Foreign Affairs on June 1–15, 2011

Bilateral cooperation

Republic of Moldova — Russia

Diplomatic tensions hit the bilateral relations between Russia and Moldova so far. On June 8, the Russian Foreign Ministry commented the results of the June 5 local electionsRU in a less diplomatic manner, accusing international observers including the small-scale OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission of the trend to smooth over and even hush up evidence of numerous violations, such as “electoral law manipulation before the elections, the printing of ballots in quantities far exceeding the number of voters”. The indignation of the Russian Foreign Ministry was a response to contradictory reports released on June 6 by the Central Electoral Commission and the Chisinau Electoral District Council regarding the preliminary electoral results of the PCRM candidate who ran for mayor of Chisinau municipality, Igor Dodon, tacitly supported by the Russian Federation. The MFAEI recommended Russian observersRO to collect concrete facts and to abstain from statements which “could be interpreted as immixture into interior affairs of a state or attempts to openly support an electoral candidate.”

A second diplomatic incident took place on June 10, during a reception organised by the Russian Embassy in Chisinau on the National Day of Russia, with Moldovan diplomats leaving the event, being followed by US and EU diplomats in response to the gesture of Russian Ambassador Valery Kuzmin who introduced Vladimir Yastrebceak as head of the Transnistrian diplomacy.

It seems that diplomatic disputes do not affect bilateral economic relations, which follow an ascending trajectory. According to NBS data, Russia keeps being the No.1 sale market for products made in Moldova. Moldova exported more than 9,183,800 litres of wine to the Russian Federation in the first 5 months of 2011, and these exports will keep growing after the opening of the second customs terminal in Sankt Petersburg after the Briansk terminal.

Republic of Moldova — Ukraine

On June 2 the Customs Services of Moldova and Ukraine held a common sitting in the Ukrainian city of Mogilev-Podolsk to discuss opportunities to boost bilateral cooperation. The parties agreed to transfer a Moldovan-Ukrainian border-crossing station to Umvili-Bronitsa because of “difficulties to develop its infrastructure” in Mogilev-Podolsk-Otaci. As well, representatives of customs services from the two countries signed some statements and protocols aimed to increase people and commodity inflows at border and improve cooperation between border customs bodies:

A protocol concerning bilateral cooperation, which establishes a clear interaction mechanism for border customs bodies of the two countries;
A protocol aimed to simplify the border-crossing procedure for citizens on summer;
A statement concerning the priority of perishable goods in the border-crossing process;
A statement concerning the use of “systems to early report emergency situations (crowds at border-crossing stations)”;

According to the press service of the Customs ServiceRO, the border-crossing intensity increased by 25 percent for citizens and by 21 percent for vehicles in one week, compared with the similar period of last year, due to the simplified border-crossing protocol.

Republic of Moldova — Poland

Warsaw hosted the third meeting of the Moldovan-Polish European integration forum on June 6. Taking part in the forum was a Moldovan delegation headed by Natalia Gherman, deputy minister for foreign relations and European integration, which included representatives of the Ministry of Finance, Interior Ministry, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, Health Ministry, Ministry of Regional Development and Construction, and the Border Guard Service. The Polish delegation was led by the state secretary for European and economic policy, Mikołaj Dowgielewicz. According to a communication by MFAEIRO, at the opening of the forum Mrs. Natalia Gherman reported the current situation regarding the process of European integration of Moldova and Moldova-EU relations, as well as Moldova-Poland relations. The Polish side reconfirmed its support for Moldova’s European perspective and encouraged Moldovan authorities to keep developing ongoing democratic reforms aimed to modernise the country in accordance with European standards.

Multilateral cooperation

Republic of Moldova — CEI

The minister for foreign affairs and European integration, Iurie Leanca, attended the Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Central European Initiative (CEI) Member States in Trieste, Italy, on June 10.

According to the press service of MFAEI, during the meeting which focussed on regional cooperation for European integration Moldova supported the revision of the cooperation regulation within CEI area, which involves simplified procedure-related rules on approval of projects, as well as building the CEI-EBRD Multi-Donor Cooperation Fund to fund new macroeconomic projects for CEI member states together with EBRD.

Iurie Leanca had bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Italy, Mr. Franco Frattini, and Slovenia, Mr. Samuel Žbogar, and discussed issues from bilateral agenda, as well as relating to the European integration of Moldova.

Republic of Moldova — BSEC

The minister for foreign affairs and European integration, Iurie Leanca, attended the 24^th meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) Member States in Bucharest on June 8. According to a communication by MFAEIRO, the Moldovan foreign minister stressed the necessity to keep implementing concrete development projects and harmonising this system in an appropriate manner, so that to meet interests of all BSEC member states. The deputy premier noted that the success of projects on development of transportation corridors, commercial and energy routes which could make the most of the strategic position of Black Sea member states becomes important for countries in the region, including Moldova.

Besides participation in the plenary sitting of the council, the deputy premier had bilateral meetings with his Romanian counterpart Teodor Baconschi and Serge Smessow, French ambassador in charge with the Eastern Partnership and Black Sea affairs, and discussed topics from bilateral agenda, as well as relevant issues related to the European integration of Moldova.

The Russian Federation will take over the BSEC Presidency on July 1, 2011.

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